John Benjamins Publishing announces the availability of the following two new
works:
First Person Singular III.
Autobiographies by North American scholars in the language sciences.
Konrad Koerner (University of Ottawa) (ed.)
Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 88
US & Canada: 1 55619 632 6 / USD 75.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 4576 2 / NLG 150.00 (Hardcover)
First Person Singular III: Authobiographies by North American scholars in
the language sciences. This sequel to the First Person Singular volumes
published in 1980 and 1991, respectively (SiHoLS 21 and 61) presents
autobiographical accounts by major North American linguists. This material
provides an important primary source for the history and development of
the discipline during the 20th century. The volume includes photographs of
all contributors and is completed by a full index of biographical names
and a detailed index of subjects and languages which turn it into a useful
research tool.
Contributions by: John C. Catford; Charles A. Ferguson; W. Nelson Francis;
Henry Hiz; Henry Kucera; Sydney M. Lamb; James W. Ney; Kenneth L. Pike;
Ernst Pulgram; William J. Samarin; Robert P. Stockwell; Karl V. Teeter.
And Along Came Boas.
Continuity and revolution in Americanist anthropology.
Regna Darnell (University of Western Ontario)
Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 86
US & Canada: 1 55619 623 7 / USD 89.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 4574 6 / NLG 178.00 (Hardcover)
The advent of Franz Boas on the North American scene irrevocably
redirected the course of Americanist anthropology. This volume documents
the revolutionary character of the theoretical and methodological
standpoint introduced by Boas and his first generation of students, among
whom linguist Edward Sapir was among the most distinguished. Virtually all
of the classic Boasians were at least part-time linguists alongside their
ethnological work. During the crucial transitional period beginning with
the founding of the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1879, there were as
many continuities as discontinuities between the work of Boas and that of
John Wesley Powell and his Bureau. Boas shared with Powell a commitment to
the study of aboriginal languages, to a symbolic definition of culture, to
ethnography based on texts, to historical reconstruction on linguistic
grounds, and to mapping the linguistic and cultural diversity of native
North America. The obstacle to Boas's vision of anthropology was not the
Bureau but the archaeological and museum establishment centred in
Washington, D.C. and in Boston. Moreover, the "scientific revolution" was
concluded not when Boas begain to teach at Columbia University in New York
in 1897 but around 1920 when first generation Boasians cominated the
discipline in institutional as well as theoretical terms. The impact of
Boas is explored in terms of theoretical positions, interactional networks
of scholars, and institutions within which anthropological work was
carried out. The volume shows how collaboration of universities and
museums gradually gave way to an academic centre for anthropology in North
America, in line with the professionalization of American science along
German lines during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The author is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Centre for
Research and Teaching of Canadian Native Languages at the University of
Western Ontario, Canada. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
"It's a measure of any really good book, ..., that it makes you change
your mind. For me, Darnell's work falls squarely into this category."
Keith H. Basso
"This is a fascinating and insightful work that makes a major contribution
to documenting the history of anthropology." Raymond J. DeMallie
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